End of Time - Just Beginning
by Unnamed.in.whispers
Summary: The Doctor has just defeated the Master, sending him and the rest of the Time Lords back into the heart of the time war and restoring the human race. There is just one problem... he has sacrificed himself to save Wilfred Mott... the one who was always destined to end The Doctor's life. Can anyone save him now.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The End of Time, Part One

Pairing: 10th Doctor/Donna

Series: Dr Who Specials [2008-2010]

Rating: 15

Type: Fanfiction, Angst

Summary: The Doctor has just defeated the Master, sending him and the rest of the Time Lords back into the heart of the time war and restoring the human race. There is just one problem… he's sacrificed himself to save Wilfred Mott… the one who was always destined to end his life. Can anyone save him now?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take

Wilfred Mott looked on in desolation as The Doctor, the greatest man he had even known, locked himself into the radiation chamber.

He had done it to save Wilfreds life; he had done it because he cherished life above all else.

Wilfred was helpless. He couldn't stop him from his sacrifice. And while the small room flooded with deadly radiation, Wilfred watched the man shrivel in on himself as his body curled and he lay, broken upon the floor.

Then there was silence.

The radiation chamber clicked off-line and all about the room was still.

It took a moment, but Wilfred came to realise that the Doctor was still breathing. And he let himself hope that this miracle man was immune to the full extent of nuclear fall-out.

Somewhere in the back of the room, a door opened and a soldier asked, "Erm… sir… I know a lot of weird things have been happening but, well, there's this woman…"

"Not now!" Wilfred cried into the air, rushing to press himself against the Doctors glass cage, eager to open the prison and place hands upon the man to ensure his health.

The soldier walked out with no argument, but Wilfred was fixed.

The Doctor moaned against the pain.

"Doctor?" Wilfred asked, "Doctor, are you alright?"

Slowly, the svelte figure began to move. Bone and sinews and muscle protested against their imposed state of torment and willed themselves into action as the Time Lord dragged his form upward to stand before the bereft human and look him in the eye.

But Wilfreds heart still found it was gripped, the man before him seemed so fragile.

Years of indoctrinated denial sprang to the forefront of his mind and Wilfred Mott laughed, "There… you see. I knew you'd be alright." It was called British reserve; no matter how bad things could get, one never admitted it.

But The Doctor looked battered, bruised, scarred and pained beyond measure.

And then the aliens deep brown gaze focused beyond Wilfred Mott. They fixed just over the old mans shoulder.

"What?" The Time Lord mumbled and pressed the glass door to open. "What?"

Brushing past Wilfred, The Doctor moved to the other end of the room to see the third person who stood, observing the shattered scene.

Donna Noble. Awake and processing the area.

"No," The Doctor gasped, "No, no, no, no!"

And he reached Wilfreds granddaughter, forgetting all that had happened to him and gripping her arms tightly.

"Donna?" The Doctor questioned, squinting into her gold-lit eyes, "Donna?"

With a great sweep of his heart, Wilfred recalled Donnas last moments before she had passed out on Wessex Lane. She had begun to remember the time she had spent on the TARDIS. And it was killing her.

The Doctor had once warned Wilfred that Donna could never be permitted to remember her time spent with him. If she recalled even the slightest moment, it would burn her and she would die…

And yet, here she stood, in the Naismiths estate, looking serenely at The Doctor and smiling.

"Hello," she whispered in awe, moving to cup his face in her hand, "Space man."

There was the smallest second where The Doctor closed his eyes to savour the embrace, but then it was gone and urgency overtook his expression.

"You can't be here!" He insisted, but Donna moved past him, "It isn't safe."

Donna moved toward the forgotten Vinvocci medical gate as The Doctor followed.

"Listen to me," he warned, "you have to sleep now."

But Donna wasn't listening; she had reached the terminal of the gate and began to type in new commands.

"Donna!" The Doctor convulsed, falling to the floor in time for Wilfred to reach him and haul him upright.

"What's wrong Doctor?" The human asked, "What's happening to Donna?"

The Doctor looked on, horrified, as his skin began to shimmer with the golden energy of regeneration, "She's starting to remember!"

And with that, Donna threw a switch and the medical gate flashed.

All was darkness.

The howling mouth of the time vortex at the un-tempered schism swirled and swallowed, begging you to look deeper…

… or to run…

… or to lose your mind.

The Doctor ran.

He always ran.

For what felt like an ice age, Wilfred was the only conscious being in the room.

After working at the controls of the Medical Gate, Donna had sent out an energy burst that had shifted through the estate.

Wilfred guessed it had used up the last residual energy in the mechanism as the technology now stood dark and dormant.

The old soldier sat on the ground, having pulled his granddaughter up to rest on his lap. He spoke to her, telling her it was all going to be alright and that she was alive, which was the most important thing of all.

Further into the room, The Doctor lay sleeping. Wilfred could see he was breathing, but was unwilling to leave Donna to check on the man.

And, after a time, the alien began to stir.

"Doctor?" Wilfred questioned, as the man dragged his frame up to meet the old soldier's eyes.

"Wilfred?" He asked, voice breaking into threads as he looked at the woman lying in the frail man's arms, "Is she..?"

"She's breathing," he answered, "but she won't wake up. What happened?"

The Doctor looked up and around the room, "Donna used the last of the residual energy to power the Vinvocci medical gate," he said, "It's done now; broken beyond use. This one last action was all it had left." Then he sniffed and shifted slightly, motioning toward the gate, "The motherboard's melted... its just scrap now."

Wilfred nodded, "I thought that's what she'd done. Used the last of the energy, I mean… But how did she get here? I thought you said she was safe."

"She was," The Doctor said, looking at Donna with sad eyes, "I built in a safety to her brain so that if she started to remember me she would pass out rather than burn up. She was supposed to sleep until all danger had ended. But Donna, being Donna… she had to go and change the rules."

"That's my girl," Wilfred smiled, squeezing his granddaughter fondly.

"Looks like she sensed the immediate danger was over and her subconscious took control. Locked onto the information she had been processing about the Master and the Naismith estate and she came here… to save me…"

"Will she be alright?" Wilfred asked.

The Doctor hung his head, "I don't know, Wilf. I'm sorry. But I just don't know…"

"And you, sir," he breathed, eyes beginning to betray him by filling with tears, "will you be alright? I can't be loosing both of you… surely that isn't fare."

"I don't know… I feel…" The Doctor frowned, wiping a hand over his face and feeling each scar and tear in his flesh melt away, "I mean I feel…" energy started to rush through his veins and he realised, with wide-eyed wonder that the sensation was nothing like dying… "I feel brilliant!"

With newfound strength, he leapt to his feet and marvelled at the euphoria that was overtaking him. He wasn't dying… he wasn't… it made no sense at all.

"No… I can't be…" he checked his hands, "I'm not regenerating…" no, he wasn't… which was impossible. Even a Time Lord couldn't survive the amount of radiation he had absorbed without regeneration.

"No… I… wait…" and then the answer hit him like a tidal wave. "Oh!" He cried; startled at how simple the answer was. "Yes!" He was stupid! Old and thick… his head was too full of stuff! But even then, "Wait…" No, it all made sense! "Yes!" He rushed over to the medical gate and headed straight for the species control unit to see it was set for…

"Time Lord," Donnas voice filled the room. "The medical template was grafted from the last user of the gate; The Master. And his template, no matter what he intended to do with it… was Time Lord."

Wilfred whooped with delight as his granddaughter opened her beautiful eyes and smiled up to him, "Hi there Gramps… did I ever tell you… I'm the best temp in Chiswick… one hundred words per minute… didn't take much to reprogram that heap of junk from transfer template to transmit a network patch."

And from one moment to the next, The Doctor cheered with joy, leapt the distance between them and had span Donna up and into a tight, swirling embrace.

"Donna!" He cried with glee, "You are brilliant!"

Setting the woman down, the doctor hugged her close as Donna squeezed him in equal measure.

A great fear rose up and over Wilfreds boundless joy at seeing his grandchild well and he moved to separate the pair, crying, "Wait! Doctor, you said she couldn't remember you!"

The old man ripped the two apart and shoved Donna away from the Doctor with some force, "Now you can't be here. You have to leave! Quick! Before it's too late!"

But Donna just smiled, embracing her Grandfather and laughing lightly, "Gramps… it's ok. It's all going to be ok."

"She really is," The Doctor confirmed, with a smile that threatened to overtake his whole face. "She's going to be just fine."

"But you said…" the old soldier looked to the other man in confusion, "Time Lord consciousness, you said. And you said it would kill her."

"I told you I reprogrammed it…" Donna explained, "Well, I had it seek out and repair anything with Time Lord DNA. It fixed him."

"So I didn't have to regenerate." The Doctor said, moving toward the pair.

"And you'll live?" Wilfred asked as The Doctor and Donna nodded confirmation. "But what about you, Donna. I don't understand, sweetheart."

Donna grinned, "You said it… Time Lord consciousness… well, it's fixed."

"When Donna took all the knowledge in my brain it was an accident," The Doctor explained, coming to stand beside her. "It was a crisis. It should never have happened. It was like a flood and it broke her." The Doctor took Donnas hands and looked in her eyes, "It is all still there… but the patch has compressed the information. It will be unlocked naturally… the longer she stays in the TARDIS. The longer she stays travelling though time and space… with me."

Wilfred heard the last part, "So she can go with you again?"

Donnas attention snapped back from the Doctor to look at her Grandfather, "Oh yes… and not only that. I want to go. I can't stay here Gramps. I need to be out there. And I want to be out there. I'm going to go to the stars… would you stop me?"

The smile was already on the old man's face as he laughed through happy tears, "Never could before… what makes you think I can now?"

"And you?" Donna asked quickly, "Do you still want me, or have you rushed off to find anyone else yet?"

The Doctor shrugged… "There were a few options for me… but I guess I'll have to take you back, seeing as you saved my life and all…"

Donna feigned insult, "Charming. Not gone a year and you're already off gallivanting."

"A Time Lord has his needs."

She tapped a finger against her forehead, "Can't fool me, Spaceman. I know how you think."

"Good point."

The conversation ebbed and the friends simply stood smiling at each other until the Doctors eyes grew wide and he confessed, "I missed you… so, so much."

Donna looked a little surprised and her smile faded slightly, "I can't fully remember not being with you. But, I imagine, I really didn't want to go."

The Doctor laughed, tears forming in his eyes. "No. You put up one hell of a fight. But I had to. It was the only way to save you. I had to let you go."

Donna reached out to tilt his head up, "Well, I'm not going anywhere now. I'm going to be with you, forever. How d'ya like that, Martian boy?"

"Oh!" He shook his head, "I'm not… I'm not from Mars!" And he embraced her again, unable to think of another way to demonstrate his joy.

"There is just one more thing…" Wilfred said, teeth worrying his lip, "Well, you see, this is all wonderful and a miracle and all those other truly amazing things… but, Donna, you were engaged."

"Shaun," Donna gasped.

"And, while he was someone who distracted you from what you'd lost… well, I do think he cares about you. You owe him an explanation, Sweetheart."

Donna looked at the Doctor. Her Granddad was right. This wasn't something she was looking forward to.

Shaun Temple was actually a very decent guy, Donna admitted to herself as she watched him gaze at the floor.

He might have been a bit of a dreamer, but they were hopeful and harmless dreams. Nothing that was going to change the world or affect anyone but to bring happiness to those he knew and those he cared for.

Shaun had met Donna on a night out. They had both been temping for some large company or other and felt the same about a lot of things in life. But most of all they had wanted to see the world… shame nobody told their banks that. They managed to move in together and live modestly… but there was no room for luxury.

Still, he had kept Donna happy… until now.

But he was only breaking her heart because she was breaking his. She knew there was no place for him in the TARDIS and she knew that since her memories of travelling with The Doctor had been restored, Shaun would become second best. That wasn't fare to him. He deserved better.

"Is it something I've done?" He finally asked, still not looking at her, "Because, I know I haven't been working recently… but I can try harder…"

"No," Donna shook her head and pressed her hands together to stop from reaching out to him, "No. It isn't you. It's me. I've changed."

"Right," Shaun snorted bitterly, "just like that? You've changed."

"Yeah," she sighed, looking away from him and through the window, "I'm sorry. I'm not who I was."

Shaun made no argument. He was never an overly aggressive man and so he shook his head and said, "I guess I better make a few calls then…"

He was referring to the wedding, "I can do that."

"No, I… think I would rather," he insisted, "It might help me figure it all out."

Donna nodded, "And the rent is all paid up for the next year so-"

"I'll get you your money back by the end of the week."

"I didn't mean that!" Donna cried, "I just meant you don't have to worry about it."

"You will need that money, Donna," he said, voice rising slightly, "where are you going to live where you don't need that cash?"

Donna couldn't help flick her eyes in the direction of the TARDIS. She had a sudden surge of excitement. Where would she go indeed?

Shaun caught the look and, as timing would have it, The Doctor chose that instant to step out of the ship and lean on its hull. For the first time in his placid life, Shaun felt the red heat of anger build up behind his eyes.

"It's him, isn't it?"

And with that, Shaun Temple leapt up from the sofa and made his way out to the TARDIS.

By the time Donna and her family had reached the front door, the man had already reached The Doctor.

"Sean," the alien greeted, holding out his hand.

But the human wasn't interested and delivered a sharp blow to The Doctors face.

Donna cried out and ran to the pair, bending to help The Doctor up from the floor as her Granddad and mother gripped Shaun to drag him back.

"It's you, isn't it? The reason she's leaving me."

The Doctor gripped his face, "Over 900 years and I've never been punched for stealing someone's girlfriend. First time for everything!"

"So, you are stealing her then?" Shaun cried, straining against Wilf and Sylvia.

The Doctor looked horrified and answered, "No!" Just at the same time Donna replied, "Yes."

Shaun's protest faltered. "Well, which is it?"

Donna and The Doctor looked to each other and then back at Shaun. "Well… when I said I'm not stealing her, I mean not in a boyfriend way."

"Not my boyfriend," Donna agreed.

Shaun looked at the two of them, shaking his head. "I don't want to hear it. I'm leaving," and he turned on his heel, "Mrs Noble. Mr Mott." And after saying goodbye to Donnas mum and Granddad, he left without another word.

The Doctor fixed his eyes on the road; slightly guilty about feeling so happy Donna had chosen him over her fiancée. He was a selfish, old man. He knew it. But he couldn't help feeling excited about what would happen next.

"That was a train wreck," Donna sighed, turning to him, "and I do feel terrible about it. But you know what?"

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"I want to know where you're thinking of taking me…" she smiled, swaying slightly as the excitement grew…"Right now!"

The smile spread across his face before he could stop it and The Doctor reached out to snatch up her hand.

The next instant they were racing to get to the TARDIS console as The Doctor whirled controls and punched buttons.

"I was thinking about taking you for a holiday," The Doctor admitted, pressing buttons and setting a destination.

"That would be nice," Donna shrugged, "been a bit busy lately with saving the world… and the universe…"

"And time itself," The Doctor agreed, "So… beach or spa? We could sit and watch the three suns of Pallious twelve set for the last time, or… see the crimson rays bathe violet sands and then wink into black while drinking sangria on Duras five… or," he raced to the other side of the console to throw a lever upward, "Visit the Aquarian residents of Nibulous-ceti-meer, enjoy finest cuisine in their underwater palace and snorkel in their amethyst seas…" He grinned, twirling a control and thinking out loud, "Or we could go hiking up the tallest peek of the dusky mountains in the thrice gilded moon of Dakorico-Pan Alpha-Psi…"

Without his noticing, Donna had reached up and pressed her finger to his lips, "Somewhere hot, relaxing, with alcohol… but let's just get out of here."

The Doctor, a little startled by being silenced, nodded his head in agreement and pressed a button. "Your wish is my command."

Donna rushed back to the door to wave to her stunned mother and grandfather. "See you in a few days, yeah?"

"You're just going?" Silvia asked, bewildered. "Just like that?"

Donna knew her Grandfather had explained everything to her mother while she was 'breaking up with' Sean.

"Yeah," Donna sighed. She was just going. Just like that…

Her Gramps put her arm around her mum and gave her a quick squeeze.

Sylvia Noble felt a smile begin deep within her. Her daughter was whole again. She would be out there saving worlds and civilisations… songs would be written and stories would be told of Donna Noble, her daughter, once more. "Then go," she breathed, finding tears swelling in her eyes. "We'll be right here, waiting when you get back."

Wilf laughed, cheering and blinking back his own tears, "And you make sure to have some stories to tell us!"

"I will," Donna said, moving to embrace them both, "Love you." She had never felt so happy and loved before and so kissed both of them on the cheeks before turning and closing the doors of the TARDIS.

"Was that your mum saying you should come with me," The Doctor asked, screwing his face up in confusion.

Donna sniffed, wiping back her tears, "Yeah…"

"Huh!" He huffed, pulling the last chord on the console. "What a difference a year makes!"

"Might have had a little something to do with saving the world…" she suggested, making her way toward him, "Twice."

"Well," he swayed, "about forty three times, but who's counting!"

And with that he shoved a lever and the TARDIS shook.

Donna felt her chest tighten with excitement. The TARDIS screeched and wheezed, shuddering into the future or into space or into the past or goodness knows where. God, she loved being a time traveller. She loved being with The Doctor.

Quite involuntarily, her hand found his on the console and the Time Lord beamed a smile to her. She couldn't help but smile right back.

She was with her best friend. Life was good.

The TARDIS thunked down with a clatter that sent The Doctor and Donna staggering about the main deck.

"Where are we?" Donna asked, steadying herself.

The Doctor grinned, bending to grasp a section of the TARDIS deck plating and pull it away. "I think you'll like this place, but there are a few things we need first…"

Disappearing into the storage space, The Doctor rummaged through decades worth of bric-a-brac, tokens and keepsakes before flinging a battered suitcase up onto the deck.

He joined Donna as she approached the locked bag and, with a flurry, threw it open to reveal sunglasses, flip-flops, bathing suits, towels, floppy hats and sun cream.

"I always planned to take you here," he said in a rush, shoving a swimsuit and colourful wrap into her arms. "I never did manage it last time around…"

He closed the case and ran to the doors of the TARDIS shouting, "Donna Noble… welcome to…" he flung the doors wide, "Jamaica world!

Donna gaped as her friend rejoined her; taking the bag and pulling her up and out by the elbow. "Jamaica world? Like the country? But on a planet?"

"In 3014 Jamaica was bought by a consortium that decided that Earth was too busy, cramped and anxiety-ravaged for the true Jamaican experience. They bought the country and moved it; buildings, roads, homes, residents, pets, wildlife… you get the drift… to a new planet in the neighbouring solar system. Et voila!"

As they left the fresh, cool bubble of the TARDIS, Donna was blanketed in the misty, warm heat of the planet…

"What's that smell?" She asked, inhaling deeply.

"Rum and raisin rain…" The Doctor grinned, "Isn't that brilliant?"

"If you've not got allergies," Donna shrugged, taking in the setting.

"You said alcohol…" The Doctor reasoned, looking slightly hurt.

They stood in the gardens of a hotel constructed entirely of bamboo. Palm trees stretched all the way up to touch the sky. Exotic birds sang in the distance. The air was warm and laced with alcohol. And all around was a misty euphoria. It was just what she'd asked for.

"It's perfect," Donna admitted. "And you're perfect for thinking of it."

He swayed slightly from side-to-side, very pleased with himself, "Let's get indoors before the Malibu Monsoon hits."

She barely had time to answer, "The what?" Before The Doctor grabbed her hand and they headed for the hotel reception.

Hours later, they reclined on beach towels on the planets award-winning sapphire beach. In the distance, kettledrums and chimes sounded as the residents and holidaymakers recovered from the post-Malibu Monsoon street party.

Donna took the lull in conversation to look sideways at her friend. She hadn't wanted to mention it before… but he looked older. He had been through a lot… lost the love of his life, lost his best friend and felt he had no one to turn to.

He hadn't mentioned it, but Donna thought that her departure had hit him a lot harder than he was letting on.

Then she smiled; he wasn't going to get rid of her that easily! She was back for keeps!

"So… you and this artistocrat…" Donna prompted, reaching for her pina-colada

"Which one?" The Doctor asked, mirroring her and taking a long sup of his own cocktail.

"I meant the one who flew off in a double-decker bus…"

"Lady Christina de Souza," The Doctor supplied.

"Her…" Donna said, looking at him over the top of her glasses, "you two…"

The Doctor frowned, looking back at her.

"You know…" she wavered, "Did you…" Gesturing feebly with her hand before slapping his arm in irritation, "You know!"

The Doctor regarded her with a blank expression before light sparked in his eyes, "Oh! You mean," he mimicked her hand gesture.

"Yes!"

"No," The Doctor dismissed, "No."

"Oh," Donna was slightly disappointed, "thought you were in there."

They both settled back in their seats, starting a fresh drink.

"Which aristocrat…" Donna began to chuckle… "Like I thought you'd have had a fling with the queen or something."

"Which one?"

Donnas cocktail almost shot through her nose, "No… way…"

The Doctor smiled behind his drink.

"I mean it…" Donna continued to gape, "No way… the Queen?! Queen Elizabeth!"

"Which one?" The Doctor said again, sipping his drink.

"Two?"

"No."

"One?"

He didn't answer.

"You…" Donna was lost for words. So she said all she could think to say, "I need another drink."

Without hesitation, The Doctor leapt out of his seat and offered his hand.

Donna joined him at the bar after a quick detour to the sparkling champagne fountain, to find the Doctor deep in conversation with the bar server. She wasn't concerned about the topic of conversation, or how the bar emptied over the twenty minutes except for an amorous couple in the far corner, a group of middle-aged men on a stag party and a darkly dressed woman sat, drinking a cosmopolitan not too far away from them.

The Doctor finally turned to her and refreshed her low glass of Bacardi, "I think we should try it."

"What?"

"Well… Barty said that there's a new restaurant opened just across the sea. We have to swim there and…"

"Who's Barty?"

"Barty," The Doctor nodded to the bar tender, "his name's Bartholomew… so, they do this certain sauce that-"

"Do you know that woman?"

Looking a little irritated, The Doctor asked, "What woman?"

"Her," Donna pointed to the person in question as she quickly finished her drink and left the bar.

The Doctor turned and looked about the room, "I didn't see any one."

Donna felt her eyes roll, "Sat right opposite us doing the Audrey Hepburn with the black dress and the big glasses… all she was missing was the theatre-length cigarette holder."

He continued to watch her, perplexed.

"You really didn't see her, did you?" Donna asked, sighing and beckoning to the bar man, "Barty… c'mere."

Polishing a glass, Barty made his way toward them.

"That woman…"

"Oh! The Hollywood starlet," Barty finished, eyes immediately glinting as he pointed to the vacated seat. "What about her?"

"How long has she been here?"

The barman thought about it, placing down the polished glass and retrieving another, "Arrived about the same time you did, I think."

Donna gave a grin, "And was she, or was she not, staring at my skinny side-kick here?"

"Only all night!" Barty said over the Doctors muffled protest.

"Thank you," Donna said smugly as Barty went on about his business. But when she turned back to the Doctor, she misread his expression. "I know. Shocking, isn't it? I mean… the suit is bad, but who'd have thought you could pull off a Hawaiian shirt?"

"No, Donna," The Doctor said, still gaping, "it's worse than that…"

"It can't get much worse than those sandals, my friend…"

"Donna," The Doctor censured, "that's not what I'm talking about."

Slowly, she realised that his shock wasn't at the fact someone had noticed him in the bar, but something that had started to concern and worry him.

"What is it?" She asked.

The Doctor looked at her, "I didn't notice her. Not at all."

"Well, that's fine," Donna comforted, wondering why it was such a big deal, "you weren't interested."

"No," he said, looking at her with some urgency, "I notice everything. It's just something I do. But even when you pointed her out I didn't see her. Like she was wearing a perception filter… but if she had been you and Barty would have missed her as well. So it must be a filter for me… so I don't see her. So I'm the only one who doesn't see her. And why wouldn't she want that?" The next instant, The Doctor was rounding the bar and asked, "Which way did she go?"

Barty pointed up into the foyer and The Doctor didn't hesitate.

Donna rushed to keep up as they raced through the lobby and The Doctor swirled around frantically, "Do you see her?" He asked, "Donna, do you see?"

Turning, Donna caught a glimpse of someone rounding a corner and cried, "Over there!"

He was off again and Donna ran to keep pace, "But I don't understand… why's it so important?"

"I don't know!" He admitted, "Where is she?"

"She's right here," a voice stated as the woman stepped out before them.

"Donna?" The Doctor questioned, "Which way?"

Shaking her head, Donna frowned at him, "Which way? No way! She's right there."

"He can't see me," the woman supplied calmly.

"I can't see her!" The Doctor said with irritation.

Not really understanding what was going on, Donna asked, "Who are you?"

"I just wanted to check on him," the woman continued to say, "I needed to make the decision."

"You still haven't said who you are," Donna pointed out.

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked.

"It's going to be a little awkward to begin with," the woman kept on saying as she reached around the back of her neck, "but it's all going to work out alright in the end."

"What are you doing?" Donna asked, somewhat dubious.

"What is it?!" The Doctor shouted with anger.

The woman unclasped a chain from her neck and pulled it away. She looked straight at The Doctor and smiled a little feebly, "Hello Grandfather."

Donna shook her head. She must need her ears syringing, there was no chance that woman said what she thought she'd said.

But The Doctor didn't respond. He simply stared at the stranger before him, dumbstruck. Because it couldn't be true… not after all the centuries of searching… not after going to the beginning and end of time to find her and finding nothing at all.

Deep inside he felt a long-forgotten pull as he recognised another Time Lord. It was built into the genes. With every fibre of his being he knew that the woman standing before him – a woman he had never seen before – was a member of his race and more, so much more.

"Susan," he managed to say as his throat dried up.

Donna couldn't find words for her shock as the woman rushed forward and enveloped her friend in a tight embrace.

"Oh, my girl!" She heard The Doctor crying into the woman's long, black hair, "My sweet, sweet girl!"

"She's your Granddaughter?!" Donna exclaimed, taking the time to truly study the woman before them now the pair had broken apart.

She was roughly the same height as The Doctor, but rather than the thin, fine boned man standing next to her, Susan was curvaceous and well turned out; wearing her long hair in ringlets over a tight, black dress.

"She looks nothing like you!" Donna protested as The Doctor continued to gaze at the woman now holding his hand.

"Which one?" The Doctor asked in a daze.

"Which what?"

"Which me."

"Shut-up," Donna snorted, "which you… You!"

"I'm a Time Lord," Susan explained with a broad smile. "So any of my regenerations can look like any of my Grandfathers."

Donna felt her head shaking, "But you're both the same age."

"We only look the same age," The Doctor corrected, still visibly stunned. "But I have about 300 years on her!"

It was all a little too mad for Donna to cope with, so she did something she rarely felt the need for. She stayed silent.

"It's so good to see you again, Grandfather. I've been looking for such a very long time!"

"Susan," The Doctor sighed, "I don't understand just yet… but right now I don't want to. I'm just happy to see you."

He embraced her again, sighing.

Donna wondered about all the times she had heard The Doctor say he was the last of the Time Lords. He had really believed that all his race had been wiped out in, what he referred to as, the last great time war?

Even accepting that the clone, Jenny, was related to him in a familial sense had caused the man a great deal of pain. To finally admit that the clone was, in some way, his daughter was a great struggle. He had taken a long time to do this… but time had softened him. Memories of his own family filled his thoughts and reminded him of the joy he could feel being a father to Jenny.

Watching her die… was almost too much for him to bear.

And right at this moment, her heart all-but burst for him.

"Donna," the Doctor said in a great intake of breath, "let's get a drink."

And before she knew it, Donna was swept up in one arm, Susan in the other, as the Doctor steered them toward the bar.

An hour, and several strong shots of liquor later, Donna was swaying over a rum cocktail and listening to the family duo of Doctor and Susan reminisce over their shared history.

Stabbing at the exposed ice at the bottom of the glass with her straw, Donna vaguely wondered about the life she lived in the year without the Doctor and how she had coped... she looked back on that time from a distance, as though she had been trapped in a tower, helpless and only able to watch as her life rolled on before her eyes.

She couldn't believe that someone who had been born and raised in the stars would give it all up to stay on Earth. How could someone just forget everything that was out there to settle down?

"So Susan…" Donna found herself saying as Barty mercifully refilled her glass, "When did you and skinny-boy here come to Earth?"

With a gulp and double-take to her Grandfather, Susan smiled at Donna, "Well… we arrived in the 1960's."

Donna laughed, "Him… in the 60's? What was he like?"

"Younger," Susan said with sadness in her eyes. "He was younger… but he looked about 70 human years."

Donna blinked, she had wondered about the regeneration process the Doctor had always spoken of. "70?" Donna gaped, then asked, "How'd he look?"

"Aaaah," The Doctor winked to her, "Dashing. Don't I always look dashing?"

With a click of the lips and wiggle of the Doctors eyebrows, Barty blushed feverishly and left the table.

"So how come you aren't travelling with him now?" Donna continued, resting her head in her hand. She found it hard to believe anyone would voluntarily give up the whole of time and space… after all… she hadn't.

Susans smile fell slightly and she answered, "I fell in love."

Donna sighed a little, "So did I…" she said before stopping herself.

The Doctor gave her a glance and she quickly qualified, "With exploring. With discovering just what's out there… with the enormity of it all and just little old me gets the privilege of seeing it… who wouldn't be in love?"

"So…" Susan asked, shifting her eyes between the human and her grandfather, "you two aren't…"

There was silence.

Susan blew an awkward breath and tried to gesture, "You know… erm…"

After a moment of blank incomprehension, the two friends suddenly caught a grasp of what Susan was eluding to and quickly cried, "No…" followed by the almost synchronistical spluttering of, "There's no…" or, "We're not..." or, "Not a couple…" or "Never…" and "No chance…"

"Right," Susan nodded slowly, with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her lips.

"How are David and the children?" The Doctor asked, eager to change the subject.

Susans humour died completely. "They lost," she said.

The Doctor sobered.

Silence passed slowly as Donna looked up from her drink, wondering what she had missed.

"It's the reason I sought you out," Susan went on, looking directly at her Grandfather. "The resistance failed. David… he wanted to make a last stand. They acted as bait, setting up a new colony light-years away from Earth. The boys went with him… Christie and I stayed behind."

"But you're here," Donna pointed out. "So…"

"I'm here," Susan agreed, looking to the other woman, "they are back there. Time-locked."

The Doctor frowned.

"And I have the key," Susan smiled.

"But you can't create a personal time-lock without a massive power-source that bisects all dimensions of space-time relative to the form of energy that can unlock the said phenomenon. And that kind of power could burn out several supernovas…" Donna stated, taking a breath, "it's impossible."

For a moment, the human looked at the dumbstruck Time Lords in her shadow and then asked, "What?"

There was no answer but the proud smile of her best friend.

Donna shrugged, "It's a side effect."

While the Doctor beamed happiness through every pore, his Granddaughter composed herself.

"She's amazing," Susan said with a blink of surprise then looked to her Grandfather, "I can see why you like her..."

With a wink and a click of his lips, The Doctor grinned.

Susan then turned to Donna, "Just how did you know that..?"

Shaking her head, somewhat dismissively, Donna answered, "I, kind of, had The Doctor in me…" Then she startled, "I don't mean that how it sounds… I meant that I touched his hand and there was his light and then he was suddenly lying there naked!"

Susan finished her drink quickly.

"I mean… it wasn't…"

"It was a meta-crisis…" The Doctor jumped in, a little wide-eyed, running a hand through his wave of crazed hair. "A human/Time Lord meta-crisis… it was complicated."

"You had to be there," Donna supplied.

"But how…" Susan asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Donna's special," The Doctor shrugged.

"I'm not." She protested.

"You are," Susan agreed, looking at her a little closer. "But that doesn't fully explain how a meta-crisis could have occurred."

"It's a long story," The Doctor offered.

Donna blushed and said, "I'll tell you on the way." She stood, looking at the Time Lords, "I take it we're headed to the TARDIS to figure out a way to help your family?"

The Doctor jumped up, enveloping Donna in a tight and welcome embrace as he thanked her for understanding. She playfully slapped him on the back, "Stupid Martian… How couldn't I help you?"

As he went on ahead, Susan gripped Donnas hand to hold her back.

"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, Donna," Susan said as she looked after her Grandfather. "It's good to see that you are here for him… I see the way he lights up around you," Susan said, her smile turning sad, "It's the way I want to remember him. Happy. Without thought for all the complications forced upon him."

"Well…" Donna squirmed slightly. "What are friends for?"

"You bring him joy," Susan continued, taking the humans arm, "and I only wish you to continue."

"I'm never going to leave him, Susan," Donna grinned, "I'm going to travel with that man forever."

"Come on you two!" The Doctor called.

Susan and Donna called back, "Coming!", smiled to each other and headed toward the ship.

"Where have you been?" The Doctor asked, somewhat agitated.

"Sorry… but…" Susan shifted forward… "How about I meet you out there… I, sort of, grew my own transport."

She pointed toward a brightly painted garden shed…

"You _grew_ a TARDIS?" Donna asked.

"Yep," The Doctor smiled, hugging the young woman to him, "Susan grew a TARDIS."

Donna finished the drink she brought from the bar. "Well – what are we waiting for?"

The Doctor practically skipped to his TARDIS as his hand automatically shooting out and met Donnas and they both gave a squeak of excitement as they entered the space-ship.

But Susan didn't follow them.

"Come on," The Doctor beckoned his Granddaughter.

She hesitated a moment, seeming tempted. "I think I should lead the way…" she said, sounding a little sad.

"Oh…" The Doctor nodded, "yes. Of course. Your own ship… you're all grown up. Independent and all that…"

Susan smiled, "Something like that."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Donna asked impatiently.

"Right," The Doctor agreed, "let's go get your family."

"Yes," Susan smiled. "And, thank you, Grandfather."

"For you, my girl," he grinned, "anything."

He went to close the door then, but Susan took a breath. "I love you."

The Doctor frowned slightly, "I love you to…"

There was something not right… Donna thought to herself… but Susan nodded, took a breath and tore her gaze away from The Doctor, in his TARDIS and headed for her own.

"What was that about?" The human asked.

The Time Lord shrugged, "Just happy to see me, I suppose…"

The younger TARDIS boomed into action as it began to phase and Susan's voice came over the communications relays, "Just lock onto my ship and we'll take you to the time lock."

The instruction spurred The Doctor into action as he raced for the TARDIS console.

"And… we're off!" He cried, flinging levers and pressing buttons.

Donna was at his side in a moment.

She could imagine the blue police box hurtling through the time vortex in hot pursuit of the bright garden shed, flailing wildly from side to side, bouncing from wall to wall of the wormhole.

Everything seemed right on track as The Doctor and Donna fell, headlong into another adventure to save lives and right wrongs…

But appearances were deceiving.

The TARDIS lurched heavily to the side, sending its passengers reeling.

The Doctor recovered first, confusion written across his features as he shouted. "What?"

Scrambling back to the console, he screeched, "What?"

Donna gracelessly hauled herself up from the juddering deck to join him as The Doctor let out a final, quieter and more bewildered, "What?"

"Grandfather," Susans voice sounded over the communication net, "I wanted to say thank you."

The Doctor gripped the console that little bit tighter, "Susan… don't do this… we can find a way…"

Donna remained silent as she watched the scene unfold. It couldn't be happening… not to him… not again…

"Susan," The Doctor pleaded, "please."

"I'm sorry…" Susan said, her tears sounding through the words, "I knew you would try and find another way to do this. Trust me when I tell you, I have found no alternative. And the longer I delay, the greater my fear of going through with it…"

Donna didn't need to ask; she'd figured it out. A power-source of equal mass to several supernovas was required to break Susan's time-lock. Or she could use the explosion generated from the destruction of a TARDIS.

"You can't," The Doctors voice was somewhat strangled, "Not when we finally found each other…"

Donna felt tears sting her eyes as she looked toward her devastated friend and heard his grandchild sigh.

"Oh Grandfather," Susan laughed, "They are my children. And you are their only hope."

The Doctor looked close to collapse as he shook his head.

Donna wanted, desperately, to round the console and hold him close but she found herself rooted to the spot.

She knew Susan was right. There was only one way. And The Doctor knew as well; he just didn't want to admit it.

"Tell them," Susan continued, "I love them. And never forget me."

"I will never forget you," The Doctor convulsed, squeezing his eyes shut as he said, "And I will make sure no one can."

The TARDIS shivered as the pressure of its sister ship built to critical.

"You never know," Susan said, "I might survive this. Stranger things have happened."

The TARDIS shook again and The Doctor smiled, "They have."

"Have faith, Grandfather," Susan said; taking a breath, "life, space and time have more in store for us."

The Doctor whimpered slightly, loosing resolve as the TARDIS gave a great shudder.

"Here it comes," Susan announced, fear shaking her voice, "Grandfather…"

The explosion rocked the TARDIS as The Doctor and Donna were thrown like rag-dolls across the deck plating.

"Susan!" The Doctors cry rang out as he scrambled upward and back to his console, "Susan?!"

But it was too late; Donna watched the dismay on her friends face slowly morphed into despair and pain at his loss.

She knew his grandchild was dead.

What was there to say?

"Hello?" A young boys voice questioned over the intercom. "Hello… I'm reading a ship out there…"

Donna looked to her friend; crumpled over the console in grief and realised she had to help.

"Yes. This is a ship. Who are you?"

"I'm Earnest and we're the resistance."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** The End of Time, Part Two **Pairing:** 10th Doctor/Donna

**Series:** Dr Who Specials [2008-2010] **Rating:** 12 **Type:** Fanfiction, Angst

**Summary:** After the death of his Granddaughter, Donna prepares to rebuild her friend from the hearts out… just one thing… she and The Doctor are trapped in a time-lock with a bunch of Daleks… as reunions come, this one could have gone better…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take

()

"If you found us, you're in luck," the little voice on the intercom stated with pride, "follow us through the mine field and we'll be sure to protect you."

Donna moved without thinking, barely noticing The Doctor looking up through his fingers to observe her.

"But…" Donna checked the readouts on the console again, "You're already locked onto us… how..?"

"It was easy," the boy dismissed, "a big old power source like yours is unique. Plus… well, we haven't seen anyone new in such a long time."

Donna thought about the time-lock and wondered how long the resistance had been fighting while the universe carried on without them.

The contemplation was cut short by a sharp lunge as the TARDIS bucked against the tractor beam tethering her to the human ship.

"What was that?" She cried.

"Just sit back and relax," the boy insisted, "We have enemy closing. Won't take a tick to get back to the base…"

She looked over to her friend, who seemed quite calm… It didn't seem to matter that they were trapped in a tractor beam in the middle of a war ground, being towed to safety by a child…

In fact… he looked quite placid.

So if it didn't bother The Doctor, Donna thought to herself, it shouldn't bother her.

The communications cut off, Donna slowly sat back on the TARDIS dais. "Who was that?"

The Doctor swallowed hard, "Earnest."

It was an odd reaction, so Donna guessed, "Is that… Is it one of Susan's boys?"

"Well… he's clever. He can lock onto a TARDIS and tow us through a minefield… he only sounded about eleven or twelve…" The Doctor blew a long, reverberating breath of air from his lungs… "I'd say that he has some Time Lord qualities."

Donna nodded. It made sense.

"And so do you."

His comment caught her a little off guard and Donna found herself squirming at the attention. "Well… since that crisis near imploded my brain and the Vinvocci gate patched me up again, I have noticed a couple of differences."

"Like reading the TARDIS console?"

Donna shrugged, "Couldn't I always do that?"

The Doctor slowly shook his head without breaking eye contact.

"Ok…" Donna said, not really recalling doing anything out of the ordinary.

When she looked back at her friend she was instantly at ease; the smile on The Doctors face was wide and dazzling.

"I think it's brilliant," he said.

And she felt brilliant for him saying it, instantly caught up in his embrace.

"Come on then," she mumbled into his chest, "let's go meet the family…" Donna made it to the door in enough time to see the haunted expression her friend tried to mask. "Or… I could take this one. You could always sit it out…"

The Doctor grimaced at her.

Donna tilted her head to the exit, "C'mon then. Chin up."

Reluctantly, The Doctor pulled on his coat and joined her at the door as the TARDIS landed on the deck of Resistance HQ.

"It's exciting though," she said, trying to understand his reluctance. "Meeting your family for the first time… isn't it?"

The Doctor nodded, eyes fixed on the door, "Would have been better if I was bringing their mother back to them."

A cold tingle of regret danced in the back of Donnas throat as she tried, desperately to think of something… anything that could make the moment less painful for her friend.

But she failed. All she could do was reach out to him.

The Doctor took a breath and took her hand; together, they stepped out onto the asteroids landing pad. Silence greeted them, in the vast, grey, hanger-bay.

"Good," a small voice intoned behind them, "you made it."

But Donna barely had the time to turn to him before the space was flooded with light and several armed and bedraggled humans clattered into the area.

They were a security force, she knew instantly, lead by a tall, rugged man. At once, he seemed to own the room, barking orders to the company and marching about the space with purpose.

Earnest rushed toward the leader, saluting rigidly and reporting his discovery of a new ship with two survivors and directing the man toward them.

The Doctor took a breath and squeezed Donnas hand, "Here goes…"

The man was blonde beneath the sweat and dirt, and even though it seemed he had missed many hours of sleep he still appeared alert and determined. He was completely focussed on the TARDIS, walking to the ship and hesitating before placing a hand on her hull.

"David Campbell," The Doctor said quietly.

The Human stepped closer to the ship, leaning his forehead against the blue grain and closing his eyes, "Doctor."

The alien walked behind the man, causing a number of his party to raise their guns.

"Put them away," David hissed, clenching his jaw.

The fighters mumbled disapprovingly, but backed up as their leader eyed the Doctor.

"Susan?"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor intoned as Donna watched him still the tears in his eyes and lay a hand on his grandsons back, "I'm so, so sorry."

There was silence. Then the human crumpled, the Time Lord embraced him and Donnas heart strained for her friend. What more could this man endure?

()

"I know it's too early… but I don't understand… Why did Susan leave the TARDIS?"

The Doctor remained quiet for a time before smiling sadly. "She fell in love," he said with a shrug. "And I was being a selfish, old man. She had to have her own life."

The other freedom fighters had found them a space about the fire as they buzzed around the small hub, drawing up attack plans to lead the Daleks away from their refuge. David had immediately composed himself and set about a new round of orders for his fighters to carry out and left on another scouting mission.

Donna steeled herself, readying to rebuild her friend, from his hearts outward. There was just one thing she needed to understand first…

"But there were Daleks, Doctor…" Donna said in hushed tones, watching the firelight and remembering the horror of Davros and his creations. "How could you leave her knowing there were Daleks?"

The Time Lord hung his head, looking every year of his age, "I didn't have a choice… or at least, that's what I thought at the time. When I see them here, now… when I think of what she must have gone through… there must have been another way."

Donna looked to her friend, feeling a stab of pain lance through her; he looked so old, sat across from her, staring into the fire. She knew he was thinking about Susan. Donna only wished she could help ease his suffering. But, for once, the immutable Londener found she had no words.

A decision rested in her thoughts and she collected two hot brews and shouldered The Doctor until he responded with a half-hearted smile and moved up the bench.

"Shift up a bit more, Spaceman."

The Doctor huffed in acknowledgement and accepted the warm drink from his friend, "Thanks."

Donna nodded, determined to stay by his side.

"I shouldn't have brought you here," The Doctor sighed, not looking at her. "I knew what the risks were and I went ahead and locked you into this… again."

"Let's not do this now," Donna said, turning to face him, "I'm not looking for apologies. I don't want you to feel guilty for me on top of everything else. I'm here because I chose to be. I'm with you," she said, taking his hand and interlocking it with hers, "because there is nowhere I would rather be."

He seemed doubtful, so she shook their joined hands and insisted, "Right?"

Finally, a true smiled curved the old mans lips and he squeezed Donnas hand in thanks.

"Now… you going to tell me what else is on your mind?"

He didn't say anything, but fixed his gaze on the soldiers preparing for battle… amongst them were Susan's boys.

"They're so young…" Donna noted.

"Comparatively speaking, they are hundreds of years old."

The comment earned him a sharp slap on the knee, "Compared to a running universe… but here… in the time lock… they're still just kids."

"Just kids," The Doctor nodded absently.

"You're great grandkids," Donna said, sipping her brew.

"Owww," The Doctors face crinkled from the nose, "now that makes me sound old…"

"Ancient," Donna agreed.

"Oi," The Doctor protested, bumping her shoulder with his own.

"Seriously though…" she laughed, "What are we going to do? Is the clock running again? Can't they just re-join the rest of the universe now?"

"When?"

"When? Now! What do you mean when?"

"No," the Doctor said moving closer to her, "I mean when? When in time?"

She squinted at the stupidity of the question, "Where they left… wouldn't that make sense?"

"But it's as you said… the rest of the universe just kept on spinning…" he sniffed, "to them the Dalek invasion was a minor skirmish. David and the resistance saw to that." With a tilt of the head, the Doctor directed Donnas gaze to the weatherbeaten form of his grandson. "There was no major battle and Earth survived without ever remembering the Daleks... again." He eyed Donna, slowly looking her up and down, "You do that a lot…"

"I remember the important stuff," she pointed out. "But if we got in… doesn't that mean the lock is damaged and other things can fall through."

"Yeah," he sighed, pushing a hand through his hair, "and I have to seal it, or it will damage space and time around it."

"But they're heroes," Donna said, thinking aloud. "They deserve to go home."

The Doctor nodded, his gaze fixed on the man, "And their reward is knowing that they have saved others… while continuing to live and die in here, over and over."

Donna remained silent as she watched the pain of loss and guilt darken her friends features. She tried, desperately, to think of things to say. But nothing came to mind.

Thankfully, the universe provided a change of circumstance as the small encampment was plunged into darkness.

Donna felt a rush of air beside her as the emergency lighting kicked in and jumped slightly as she noticed the Doctor stood over her.

Secretly, she was touched to see him protecting her, but years of fending for herself meant a twinge of irritation sprang up and she gave him a scowl.

He didn't acknowledge her expression at his presumption. As far as he was concerned he had already lost her once and that was not something he was prepared to do again.

The Doctors eyes scanned the immediate area as Donna asked, "What's wrong?"

"Red alert," he murmured, focusing on the small figure heading their way.

Earnest regarded them for a moment before smiling, "It's alright. It's just night shift two. Would you like to follow me?"

Donna looked at her friend, who gave the room a final scan before taking her hand and trailing the boy out of the room to join a flow of humans passing down a long corridor.

She tried not to think about the eerie look of the survivors camp, bathed in red light and shadow. It reminded her of horror films she had seen as a young girl… and they never ended well. She also tried not to think of how tightly the Doctor was squeezing her hand in his own; certainly not letting go and ready to drag her along if he needed to run. Something was wrong.

Little Earnest slowed his pace slightly to look, again, at his ancestor and say, "So, you're my great-grandfather?"

The Doctors grip on Donna flexed, "Yes," he answered.

The boy turned and regarded Donna, his gaze drifting to their joined hands, "And are you my great-grandmother?"

Biting back the usual need to underline how much she and the Doctor were NOT a couple, Donna gave her friends hand a little squeeze. "I'm not your Grandmother, darlin'."

Earnest looked again at their hands, "I have something for you."

Donna glanced to her friend, but he shrugged and she leant forward to the lad.

"It was my mothers," she explained, handing her a necklace with a green gemstone glowing at its centre. "She had said to give it to her Grandfather when he arrived, but you will keep it safe for her, won't you?"

Donna wasn't sure what to say, but the Doctor nodded for her to keep the jewel and she placed it round her neck.

"Thank you," she said, quietly.

But Earnest said nothing more, turning another corner into a room that resembled a large hanger, populated by small, egg shaped domes that had been sunken into the ground.

"We sleep here," Earnest explained, noticing the confusion on Donnas face. "The enemy have trouble detecting us when we're in the isolation tanks."

"Isolation tanks?" Donna queried, turning to the Doctor, "Like sensory deprivation? I can't go in there. I tried it in a spa once, with my mate Vena. Couldn't handle it."

"You'll be fine," Earnest said dismissively, "I have assigned you a double so you'll have company."

"Company?" She asked as the boy led them to a large booth in the corner of the room.

"It makes sense, really." The Doctor explained, "The tanks decrease your breathing, so you use less oxygen and reduce blood pressure to keep you healthy."

Earnest pressed a number of buttons on the pod and chimed in, "The magnesium you absorb in the tank preserves your muscles and helps prevent depression and insomnia. Then there's the added benefit that prolonged exposure increases theta brainwave patterns," he glanced once more at Donna and The Doctors joined hands. "It also improves female fertility."

Donna blinked, ignoring the fertility comment and confirming, "It changes my brainwave patterns?"

The Doctor breathed, dropping his hold on her as they approached their accommodation for the night, "Theta brainwaves usually occur when humans sleep. They are said to aid the learning process, heighten creativity and increase problem-solving skills."

"Oh," Donna nodded, "well… it all sounds very reasonable." She nodded, looking about the room, "Just one thing…why is everyone taking their clothes off?"

"Total emersion works better with less barriers," Ernest explained, before turning and heading toward a pod of his own, shouting "Goodnight," over his shoulder.

Donna gawked… did The Doctor honestly expect her to climb out of her clothes and clamber into a tank with him? She turned; ready to blast his ears with a series of reasons why she had no intention of getting into the pod when she noticed his gaze fixed on something else entirely…

"What is it?"

The Doctors eyes remained fixed on the wall in front of him, "It's a crack…"

He approached the fault in the building with concern… because every sense was telling him that the crack in the wall before him wasn't a simple thing, but quite sinister.

"Can you hear something?"

The Doctor startled as Donna placed a hand on his shoulder and angled her head toward the crack.

"Yes," he admitted, happy to have another person to share this with, "but it's a sound from another time… so only you and I can hear it… it's the damage we were talking about earlier…"

"Is that how Susan got out?"

The Doctor nodded, "I need some time to think…"

The lights about them began to fade and Donna took a breath… "Well then, time-boy… I guess there isn't another way around it. Into the tank."

His shock must have shown because Donna huffed and dragged him over to the isolation tank, roughly tugging his coat free. He struggled a little to bat her hands away as he began to disrobe, doing his best to look anywhere but at his companion in order to preserve her dignity.

Donna was also trying not to look over to her friend, while wondering just how much she had to remove. A quick glance at the others in the room showed that she could, at least keep her underwear on.

Then another thought occurred… she didn't want The Doctor getting into the pod before her, he would have a very unflattering view as she loomed over him.

A small part of her wondered why his opinion of her body should matter so much, but she dismissed it and turned to see he was removing his shirt, so she shuffled to the pod and stepped down into the liquid with an involuntary hiss of disapproval.

The Doctors arms were around her in an instant as he asked, frantically, what was wrong and was she hurt.

"I'm fine," she insisted, twisting to face him, "It's just bloody cold."

It was then she noticed he was stood before her in the pod, the both of them hip-deep in the water, his arms around her and chest bear from the open shirt. She couldn't help her eyes trailing over his skin, noting that the many times she had accused him of being skinny had been unfair as his frame was actually quite compact… then she met his eyes...

The Doctor was viewing her in much the same way and gulped, giving a guilty smile and turning to reach the temperature switches on the side of the pod, making the material of his briefs stretch over his plumb-shaped backside…

_So much for not looking_, Donna thought to herself.

When the Doctor turned back he pointed to the submerged coves in the wall of the pod and took her hand, wrapping his arm around her to guide them to their seats.

_And so much for not touching_, Donna grumbled as she felt the betrayal of her own body as it relaxed into the curves and lines of her friends.

The pod began to close automatically once they were settled and the friends found themselves amerced in pitch black.

"Doctor…" Donna sighed in the darkness.

"Yes," he said, giving her a squeeze.

"You will keep a hold of me," she all-but pleaded, "won't you."

He laughed slightly, tightening his hold and breathing, "Never intend to let you go again, Donna Noble."

She smiled.

And let herself drift off to sleep.

()

Donna actually felt quite relaxed as she lay back in the heat.

She had never been to this planet before, but it felt familiar. There was a scent of cinnamon in the air as the light faded and a breeze tingled through the silver leaves of tall trees.

The feel of her companions hand in hers brought a smile to her lips as she stretched out on the red grass and quietly mused, "I really do like it here."

She heard the Doctor laugh lightly at her side and was glad he was finally unwinding.

They were silent and content for a time as the sky grew dark and the stars shone brightly, twinkling to them and whispering promises of planets unseen and a future that stretched out amongst them.

For no reason at all, both of them muttered, "I love the star light," then laughed at the synchronicity.

"I'm so glad I found you again," Donna admitted.

"I only wish you had said yes the first time I asked you to come with me…" he admitted. "All that time was wasted…"

"Nah," Donna edged closer and his arms opened to allow space for her to nestle into his chest. "You had Martha."

"I was unfair to her, you know," he said wistfully, "she loved me. I knew it. But it was too soon after Rose."

Donna stayed quiet.

"I think that Martha gave me the time I needed to appreciate my next companion more…"

"And there was that thing the Master said…" she teased, seeing him peer around her hair to look in her eyes, "about you not being able to resist an Earth girl…"

The Doctor gave her a squeeze, "I can resist Earth girls."

"Yeah…" Donna continued, wriggling slightly to prop herself up on his chest, "Proved that time and again, haven't you, you cradle snatcher!"

He moved quickly, able fingers lifting and turning her until she was beneath him as she cried, "Alien cradle-snatcher!" Then she giggling as he tickled her despite her half hysterical pleas for him to stop.

When he did, Donna was flushed and short of breath, completely elated. Then she noticed he hadn't moved away.

"He was wrong about me being unable to resist an Earth girl," he insisted from above her, "but Donna, you are not a girl…" She felt a deep heat rise on her skin as his eyes roamed over her and he finished, "You are, and always have been, a _woman_."

The heat in that one word alone melted Donna's very bones as she reached up and captured his lips, pressing her body up and clutching her to him, resigned to never letting him go.

She needn't have worried… he seemed bent on keeping her as close as possible as their kiss raged on from a shock crush of skin on skin, to a more definite caress and appreciation of each other.

"Donna…" The Doctor said between smaller, sweeter kisses as he trailed them down her face and neck, "Donna…"

"What?" She asked, slightly irritated that he would be chatty at a time such as this.

"I think there's a problem…"

He had a point, she thought as she frantically undid his neck tie, they weren't really the same species… this might not go the way she was used to.

"It's not that," the Doctor said, batting her hands away and swiftly removing the garment to kiss her again, "it's just that we aren't really here."

"Mmm-what?" She asked, ripping open his shirt and starting on his belt buckle.

"We aren't here…" The Doctor said again, yelping slightly as her hand found its way into his trousers… "Though I now wish we were."

"Spoken like a true man," she grinned against his lips, feeling his fingers pull her closer and press their bodies together, "Even if you are a space man."

"Listen," he whimpered, "it's energy… from an explosion."

Donnas mind fuzzed and then cleared, she was suddenly drawn away from this delicious physicality as her thoughts crystallised and she breathed, "The crack on the wall… it's a crack in space and time."

"Exactly," he smiled, "and there's only one thing powerful enough to cause a rip in the continuum like that…"

"Susan's TARDIS," everything made sense. "And the crack echoed through time to here and that's when Susan first got the idea that she could open the crack enough to escape the time-lock and get help!"

"Ooooh," the Doctor beamed, scrunching them closer still, "you are brilliant, Donna Noble!"

Donna blushed, "That's great Doctor. But there's just one thing…"

"What's that?" He asked brightly.

"I've still got my hands in your pants…"

With almost a comical timing, they both looked down to the mentioned predicament and then back up again.

The Doctor swallowed, "I don't seem to be complaining, do I?"

"You wouldn't either…"

He considered this and his lips puckered in an attempt to respond before they were surrounded by static and a white-light.

Then all was darkness.

()

Waking in an isolation tank was one of the strangest things Donna had experienced; it felt like her eyes were still closed and she floated in the tranquil warmth of water with the Doctors arms around her.

Slowly, she came to realise his hearts were beating quicker than usual, as her head rested on his chest, and his breathing was rapid and calming.

"Are you awake?" She asked quietly, not wanting to move away from him and noticing how their legs had tangled during the course of the night.

"I'm awake," he admitted, giving her a quick squeeze.

The ambient lighting started to glow and she could make out his dark eyes looking down at her.

"What do you think is going on?"

The Doctor shrugged, bumping their bodies together in the water, "We were interrupted…"

She startled and looked at him a little closer…

"I mean," he qualified, "the sleep cycle has been interrupted."

Oh God, she realised he had been in the dream with her! Donna pushed herself up and away from him.

"Touch telepath," he smiled awkwardly, "remember…"

Her heart flopped, "So that was…"

"Yeah…"

A blush raced up from her toes and over her head as she squirmed, "You can't always…"

The Doctors eyes flew wider, "No! No, it's not normally like that," he admitted as the lights in the tank equalised, "I can only usually sense how you feel in a dream state..."

Donna nodded, cheeks still burning.

"This is new," the Doctor continued, "must be a side-effect of the meta-crisis."

"Shared dreams," Donna mumbled into the air before something occurred, "wait a minute… I've never seen a planet like that. How do I know it wasn't your dream?"

The Doctors face creased in surprise, "My dream?"

"You said shared… that's equal… it doesn't mean I was leading and you were watching… it means we were there together."

As he took a breath to answer the pod opened to the sound of bombs hitting the bunker and the others shouting to evacuate pulled them from the question.

The Doctor leapt from the tank and all but picked Donna out of the chamber so she was stood beside him.

They took a moment to give each other a quick glance to check they weren't harmed, but then realised what they were doing and shied away…

Quickly dragging on her clothes, Donna yelled, "What's going on?"

"They've found us," David announced as he entered the room, "it was only a matter of time. And with your arrival, it isn't surprising."

"If they traced the TARDIS and I'm out of the stasis pod, that means they can lock onto me."

"Way ahead of you," David said, turning to the evacuees and yelling, "Let's move! Grab what food you can and get to the ships."

"I don't understand," Donna said, dragging on her shoes, "I thought nobody could die here."

"We don't stay dead," David confirmed, "but it still hurts."

Donna felt the words sting as the leader ushered the last of the crowd into the cramped corridors amid the scream of weapons fire and the falling rubble.

Earnest directed them off the main track and through a number of locked doors until they reached the TARDIS, then he turned to leave.

"What about you?" Donna demanded as she heard the ships doors click open.

Earnest looked at her hand on his shoulder with some confusion, "I'm going to fight, miss. I always do, you know. Wish me luck."

Donna had nothing else to say… she smiled and whispered, "Good luck."

Once back inside the TARDIS she looked, accusingly, at the man in front of her as he wound a reel on the console and the TARDIS took flight.

"We're just going to let them die?"

The Doctor looked up, "You heard David; they don't stay dead."

"Well… isn't that wizard. So we can just leave every time they are slaughtered?!"

The Doctor stopped again and looked up at her, "Donna… working…"

The excitement that clinched her jerked her into motion and Donna was at his side in an instant to find out what this genius man could do to save the day.

"I was thinking about it in the pod… like you said, the crack in the wall was a crack in space and time…"

"A crack that was caused when Susan's TARDIS exploded, which echoed back in time and allowed her to escape the time lock in the first place – like a pre-destination paradox."

The Doctor looked proud and impressed as he smiled and said, "Exactly! So while we were in the pod I was wondering about the possibility of detonating a second TARDIS at exactly the same point in time on the opposite side of the time lock to equalise the explosion and cancel out the concussive power that caused the crack in the first place."

"Wouldn't that just close the rift and trap us in here?"

"Without the rift, Susan couldn't have escaped and she wouldn't have detonated her TARDIS to push us in in the first place."

"So Susan lives, but we die? No, wait, we would never have been here to detonate our TARDIS."

"Exactly!"

She felt a slight deflation, "But that's not exactly saving anyone, is it? It's great she's not going to die, but we'll only be trapping her back here where she will die again and again."

"Donna, I am surprised at you…" The Doctor said, spinning away from the console and landing in the jump seat.

"I knew it – come on then – what is it?"

Folding his arms and smiling away, he said, "If I get the explosion just right… and I mean ooooh" he stretched, rubbing his hand through his hair, "to a trillionth of a second… I will be able to crack the time lock wide open, stabilise space-time and the concussive wave will knock us into a separate space from the Daleks."

"How?" Donnas asked.

"Susan doesn't have to be there. Just her TARDIS."

"And as time re-writes itself you will…" Donna shook her head, "No, you've lost me."

"Remember the first time we met and you were pulled into the TARDIS?"

"Yeah – that radiation acted like a magnet…" she looked at him, "And you have a TARDIS magnet?"

"Oh yes!" He said, leaping up from the seat and rushing to her.

For an instant, Donna felt her heart stop as he rushed towards her and pressed his fingers down the collar of her top… but then he removed them, dragging Susan's necklace free as the light began to pulse brighter and brighter.

"And with this little magnet at the heart of the explosion, a signal will be sent and Susan's TARDIS will come a running… saving her, saving us and saving everyone else in-between! What do you think?" The Doctor asked, his mint breath tickling her face from his proximity.

Donna shrugged, "I'm thinking that those pods were a lot more stimulating than you made them sound."

The Doctors eyes lost their spark as Donna realised how that had sounded. He gulped and she stuttered, "What with all that theta-class thinking…"

He nodded and backed away from her, colour rising on his cheeks.

"Here," she said, unlocking the necklace and pressing it into his palm. "Bring her home."

The Timelord danced around the controls of his craft, but mid-stride he was knocked sideways by an impact on the hull of the ship and sent scattering after the pendant as it flew from his grasp..

"What was that?" Donna cried, hauling herself up to the monitor, "A Dalek ship! They've spotted us."

"No, no no…" The Doctor chanted, clutching the necklace. "I still have the calculations to perfect…"

Donna looked at the console and, for a moment, felt as if the panel was showing her which buttons to press.

The TARDIS stabilised and The Doctor looked over to Donna, amazed.

She responded with a wink and he went back to his calculations, punching buttons and twisting controls before hollering, "Right! Hang on…" and slamming the necklace into the main console.

The action caused a fountain of sparks, accompanied by a number of panels blowing out, one catching Donna in the face.

In the background, amid the explosions and screeches of flame, she heard the Doctor called her name, but her eyes watered and refused to focus as she fell back against the handrail.

The last thing she heard was the Doctor shouting, "Get ready old girl…" as she fell into the chaos and the TARDIS exploded around her.

Then there was nothing.

()

As she woke, Donna vaguely wondered how many times she had been rendered unconscious since meeting the Doctor… but this time, at least, she had a pillow.

Until the pillow moaned, "Donna? Are you alright?"

Blearily, she rose to look her friend in the eyes as The Doctor pressed a hand against his forehead and shook himself, "Remind me not to do that too often…"

He helped her up and they looked around the TARDIS control room.

"But, everything is fine," Donna said, "I remember so much damage…"

"Time was re-written," he explained, sitting on the jump-seat.

Donna frowned, "Then how do I remember…let me guess… the meta-crisis."

"The meta-crisis," The Doctor nodded, "And we were the centre of one of two simultaneous explosions that created a fixed point in space/time for a fraction of a second…"

Donna shook her head and held up a hand, she didn't want to hear it… there was something more important… "And what about the others?"

Static sounded over the intercom and a familiar, young and happy voice shouted, "Hello there? We have detected your TARDIS. Please open communications."

"Earnest!" Donna cried with joy before she could stop herself.

"Yes?" The boy frowned as his image materialised on the TARDIS screen, his father and mother stood behind him.

"Susan," The Doctor sighed in relief. It had worked. They were all fine.

"I see you got my gift, Grandfather…"

The Doctor unclipped the necklace from the console and smiled, "Just enough resin from the TARDIS engines to act as a paradox and anchor to pull your TARDIS to the correct point in space and time and crack the time lock." He gave a nod of the head and a quick wink, "It's in the blood with this one Donna."

"Susan… what about the Daleks?" Donna asked, seeing as they were the forgotten part of the equation.

"The power of cracking the time-lock sent them hurtling through time. My TARDIS tracked them to the year 200,000 near the sol system."

"Earth? Aren't you worried they'll rebuild?"

A darkness inked out the Doctors eyes as he blew out a breath, "Well… I suppose if they build themselves up there will be a big, bad wolf to knock them down again." He saw her concerned reaction and moved to place an arm around her, "Not to worry Donna," he assured, "I know they won't be causing trouble for long."

Dubious, she allowed him to change subject as he spoke with his Granddaughter about integrating the survivors of the resistance into the new time period. They agreed to meet more often and set a specific frequency to broadcast to each other for the future… then Susan was on her way.

"Lots of work to do," the young woman smiled. "Come back this way again soon, Grandfather… and Donna. I look forward to seeing you both."

They bid adieu and The Doctor turned to Donna with a goofy smile.

"What?"

He shrugged, "That's my Granddaughter, all grown up…"

Donna felt her head bob in feigned understanding, "There's another thing, Doctor…"

He looked up expectantly.

"You aren't alone anymore," she explained, "You aren't the last Time Lord."

A frown merged into his smile, ""I'm not the last Time Lord."

There was a moment when it seemed he was going to say more, but the time stretched out under his searching gaze, Donna began to grow uncomfortable… as if she was missing a point he was trying to make.

Wanting to leave the awkward silence, Donna blew out a long sigh and clapped her hands together, "Well, I'm beat! Looks like bed-time for the human."

But she was stopped by the feeling of his hand on her arm.

"I haven't felt alone since I found you, Donna."

His sincerity was unexpected and she felt the words sink into her brain and halt any further thought.

Try as she might, no witty lines or sarcastic come-backs floated to the top of her thoughts as she caught her breath and smiled, demurely.

"I'll always be here, Spaceman, "she found herself saying, "for as long as you'll have me."

He laughed and huffed, "Would forever be convenient for you?"

"Oh, yes please!" She smiled as his eyes brimmed with tears and they embraced.

Where else would she want to be, other than in the arms of her best friend; at the heart of adventure and travelling the stars.

It couldn't get better than this.

Could it?


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** The End of Time, Part Three **Pairing:** 10th Doctor/Donna **Series:** Dr Who Specials [2008-2010]

**Rating:** 15 Type: Fanfiction, Angst

**Summary: **Still coming to terms with the after effects of the meta-crisis, Donna and the Doctor take the opportunity to visit home... only to discover new sides to eachothers personalities and the start of a new adventure!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take

()()()()

It had been months since saving Susan and her family. Donna was adjusting to the new Time Lord brain and likened it to gaining scores on a game station. With every level she reached, new doors were unlocked and the further her understanding of space and time stretched out.

The Doctor did his best to explain some of the notions that governed a Time Lords morality and how they conducted themselves on their travels and, for the most part, Donna agreed with the ideals her friend lived by.

Some nights she worried that the closer she got to understanding all the knowledge that was locked up in her head the further away from human she got.

Times like that the Doctor would take her home to her Mum and Gramps and they would listen in delighted rapture to all the tales of all the places they had been since Donna had been restored.

On this particular visit, her Gramps was quizzing the Time Lord on all the different species out in the cosmos and Donna found herself drifting out to the kitchen where her mother was sat, quietly sobbing to herself.

"Mum?" She asked, immediately placing the empty tea cups on the counter and moving a comforting arm around the older woman.

"Oh Donna!" Sylvia cried, somewhat abashed at being caught out, "I thought you were through in the living room."

"I thought I would get us all a glass of wine before supper," she explained, giving the woman an extra squeeze.

"Of course, of course," Sylvia went to move, "we should get back in there…" but when she saw the concern in her daughters eyes she smiled, covering Donnas hands with her own, "I'm a silly, old woman."

Donna shook her head, confused.

"I'm so proud of you," Sylvia said, "I should tell you all the time. But I don't… and now I worry each time I see you will be my last chance…"

"The Doctor will look after me," Donna said.

"That's what you said last time," Sylvia dismissed, shrugging her away and standing to cross the kitchen.

"It's different this time," Donna insisted, "I'm different."

"Oh, Donna…" Sylvia closed her eyes against whatever she was going to say and fetched a bottle of red wine from the cupboard before sighing, "I know that you are in love with the man, but you don't need to defend him or make him out to be a saint. He knows what he put you through last time. I just hope he's learned from it."

"In love?!" Donna sputtered, stuck on the concept, "I'm not…" her heart raced, "We're not…" her mind whirled helplessly, "It's not like that."

"Please," Sylvia intoned, looking at her as if she were a child that needed a puzzle solving, "the way that you look at each other; you can't tell me that you haven't noticed how he hangs from every word you say…"

Meltdown! Donnas body crashed and she was left standing in the kitchen trying desperately to kick-start herself.

"Donna," Sylvia continued, "when you're in the room he doesn't see anyone else."

"He sees everything," Donna mumbled weakly, "it's kind of a thing he does…"

"Well his eyes are fixed on you. He moves when you move. Tell me you have noticed it…"

And she supposed she had; she had just figured it was her imagination.

"He's an alien," she said, equally quiet as before.

"An alien in love with you!" Her mum stressed, plonking the wine down on the counter and fetching four glasses, "Even Dad has noticed what the pair of you are like. You finish off each other's sentences."

"We're two halves of the same brain…"

"Two halves of the same… I can see that…"

And Donna remained in stunned silence.

They were just friends; her and the Doctor… weren't they?

She had to admit there was a mutual attraction; she would often catch him looking at her with a far-away look in his eye… and sometimes there would be something missed in there that made his chest puff out as he caught her looking at him…

They both smiled a lot. And held hands… and hugged. In fact, he was the one who was always keen to wrap her up in an embrace… the times she had hugged him he had seemed elated…

No. This line of thought was ridiculous.

They were just friends.

Weren't they?

"It's not like that, Mum," she found herself saying, "it's not like that with me and him. We agreed that we're just mates and that's it, 'cause we're different species and there's an age-gap of about eight hundred years and relationships on the TARDIS don't work the same as they do in the real world. We're just mates and that's all we're ever going to be."

Sylvia snorted, "You're kidding yourself, my girl."

"Mum, would you just listen! Me and the Doctor aren't like that. He's an alien and we are friends and there's no chance of anything else, ever! Alright?!"

And with her point rather hotly made, Donna turned to leave the kitchen only to find the Doctor and her Grandfather stood in the doorway.

Donna felt her heart sink as she looked into her friends eyes and saw a pained and devastated expression.

_Please let him have heard the whole conversation and not just the last few sentences…_

She couldn't think of what to say. And it appeared that neither could he, as he stood there, looking slightly broken.

Donna turned to her Mum for support, only to see the other woman stood with her hand over her mouth in surprise…

"Any more nuts, love?" Her Grandad asked, moving from behind the Doctor to reach out an empty glass bowl…

Donna took the bowl without looking away from the Doctor, "Sure Gramps…" she muttered.

The Doctor sniffed in a breath and nodded, "Right… I think I will go and get brushed up before supper… if that's alright…" Then he was gone.

Donna closed her eyes, wanting to bash her head on the wall.

God, what had she done?

()()()()

The Doctor took extra time knotting his tie in the mirror; making each movement separate and concentrating on the swish of air and fabric…

He wasn't really thinking of anything; which, for him, was unusual.

After overhearing Donna and Sylvia he had felt the need to beat a hasty retreat. It was a familiar sensation for him; running. It seemed that's what he spent the majority of his life that way.

Then there was Donna.

She had given him the chance to slow down and simply enjoy the people and places he travelled to. She had opened him up so much more than he had thought possible and, together, they were discovering new depths of the Timelord legacy.

They were friends; it's all they had ever said about their feelings for one another and how they had agreed to live. So why was it that hearing Donna admit there was no possibility of exploring the chance of deepening that connection, making it romantic or even physical… well… it hurt.

_Stupid_, he chastised himself, looking up into his own eyes in the mirror, _stupid, old man. She has always said we are only going to be friends._

But then he found himself dwelling on the dream they had shared in the isolation tank. It was something that he still thought on – free of all the bonds of this world and caught in the magic of dream-time, he and Donna had floated together and became entwined in passion.

They had not discussed it, of course. They had just carried on and steadfastly ignored any further comments of their closeness by outside observers.

The Doctor moved to the dresser in his room and opened the drawer to collect some cufflinks.

He had to admit that since that particular experience he had been a lot more physically aware of Donna. Part of him couldn't help that. Timelords could sense their own kind. It was almost like a rope that flowed out from the centre of your being that would connect and pull toward another.

That other, no matter how diluted, was Donna. She had a Timelord brain now [as she referred to it]. So he could sense her. That's how he knew she was stood outside the room.

"You can come in Donna," he called.

Sheepishly, the redhead slipped into the room, curling in on herself subconsciously. She was feeling awkward about the overheard conversation as well. This was even more obvious by the fact that she had not said a thing since entering the room.

The Doctor went about choosing the cufflinks.

"I've never been to your room before," Donna admitted, quietly. "Didn't think the TARDIS was taking me in the right direction when I passed the ships cinema…"

The Doctor huffed a smile, of course the TARDIS would have taken Donna around the houses. The ship could sense his confusion and was probably giving him time to work things over.

"Perhaps you need to draw me a map or at least show me a few shortcuts…"

But when the Doctor looked up from the dresser, he saw Donnas smile morph into a mild expression of horror, "I mean of the ship… not directions to your room…"

He shook his head in sad amusement; he hadn't considered that Donna might want to find her way to his room. More was the pity.

"Doctor," she continued, taking a step toward him, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for," he said quickly, feeling himself anger. She couldn't really be apologising for not finding him attractive, could she? How ridiculous! Attraction wasn't something that people could control.

"I do," she insisted, taking another step. "I shouldn't have been discussing us… our friendship… with my mother."

"Donna," he said quietly.

"It's just that you mean so much to me," she continued, big, wide ocean eyes fixed on him. "Literally, worlds and galaxies… I don't want anything or anyone ruining that…"

He took a moment to absorb what she said, looking at the words from every angle and hoping that, perhaps, the sickly nervous feeling in his stomach would dissipate.

And a part of him knew he should say something… but he found himself, suddenly, quite scared.

Here was the man who had faced down armies, fought Daleks, Cybermen and half of the other major threats in the universe… and he had nothing to say when it meant risking his hearts and loosing the woman before him.

He was about to say that he would be whatever she needed, because she was his centre in the cosmos… that without her he had no idea what he would have become… that he couldn't imagine being without her friendship or her bravery…

But as he went to speak, Donna noticed the cufflinks.

"Getting a little dressed up for supper at the Noble's, aren't you?" Then she moved, taking the links from his hand and moving him to access his shirt.

"One shouldn't use age as an excuse to get sloppy," he grinned, his breath catching as she pulled him nearer before finishing, "should one?"

"Alright, you don't want to tell me where you were about to run off to then," she smiled, "that's alright, as long as you come back…"

Surprising himself, the Doctor found his hand moving to take Donnas chin and tilt her head to look her in the eye, "I wasn't going anywhere," he said, "ever."

Donna seemed to melt slightly, her fluid eyes gazing steadily into his, "Glad to hear it." Then she really, truly did smile, "Very glad."

It was moments like this the rope binding him to this woman tugged violently; it jerked him toward her as though the ship had lurched and span itself about.

She had such deep, blue eyes that he felt himself melt as she looked at him. In her view he seemed wonderful and while she gazed on him he felt every millimetre the man she imagined he was…

He felt strong and bold and wonderful. He felt her love and knew his hearts bowed under the weight of emotion he held for this woman. She was everything in the universe. She was the universe.

They were more than friends; they had to be, didn't they?

He stood there, holding her face as suns went nova and civilisations were born and died; lost as to what he should say, what he could say, but certain something had to happen.

He had to tell her.

He had to say something…

"You going to give me my face back?" Donna asked, a smile playing on her lips… "I will need that chin you're holding on to…"

And the moment broke.

His hands fell away from her and he stepped back, smoothing his jacket self-consciously, "Sorry… I was…"

"Lost in thought…"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Was it a nice one?"

He sighed, thinking of the dream they had shared, "The best."

"Yeah," Donna breathed, "Mine was pretty nice too."

The Doctor blinked.

"I've never seen eyes as brown as yours," she said, "they glitter, you know."

The brightest spark of hope ignited within him and the Doctor hesitated, for fear it would catch and burn him to a cinder.

Donna gave another smile and headed for the door.

"Donna," he called and she turned to him, "were you there with me?"

And he held his breath, hoping she would know he meant thinking about their time together in the isolation tank.

Donna tilted her head, blushing slightly.

She knew what he was talking about!

Then she looked straight at him, "I'm always with you, Spaceman."

The Doctors hearts gave a little stutter as he processed her words.

She meant it. She really did!

Blushing again, Donna headed out of the room, "Come on… or Mum and Gramps will wonder what we're up to…"

He was alone.

The TARDIS hummed in satisfaction.

He patted the nearest wall, fondly, "Just waiting for the both of us to figure it out were you?"

She murmured in response and The Doctor found his head shaking… Why was he not surprised that the empathic ship would know how they felt about each other before they did?

They were more than friends…

Now he had to figure out what to do about it.

()()()()

Christmas was a time Donna had always enjoyed. All the bickering and general complaints about life would be forgotten for a few warm and blissful hours as family and friends appreciated each other.

Donna loved her family and she loved her friends.

Giving a quick glance at the man sat opposite her at the table, she tried to hide a giddy grin; she was in love with her best friend.

And the best part? He loved her.

She felt familiar butterflies in her chest.

Even though he was an alien and she was a temp, from Chiswick… even if there was an age-gap of some eight hundred years… even after the countless times they had insisted they weren't an item… they finally realised how they felt.

Donna couldn't pinpoint the time he had become so important to her. Part of her felt as if he always had been important to her, even before she had known him.

She shook herself and poured another glass of blue, effervescent liquid which The Doctor had assured the family would be perfect to serve at the meal…

Gramps had been so fascinated by the blue concoction; he was helping himself to another glass as her Mum talked about the latest shopping bonanza The Doctor had taken Donna on across five planets and three moons.

He was trying his best to recount the less-horrific and frightening adventures they had had… trying to prove to Sylvia that the time he had stolen Donna for was not always spent running and crying and dodging death by a margin…

The Doctor felt he was doing quite well; all the family were laughing and smiling as he chunnered his way through another adventure… then came a bright light.

The household paused.

There, in the centre of the dining table, sat a black box.

"What is that?" Sylvia asked, backing away from the table.

Her father and daughter moved in the opposite direction, closing distance on the dark item before the Doctor had a chance to lay a finger on his sonic screwdriver.

"Wait a second," the Doctor commanded.

Wilf backed away; Donna pulled a face at him.

"It seems harmless enough…" Donna said, "Look at it. It's just sat there…"

A preliminary scan showed the object as inert… Donna was right… it was just sat there…

"Have you ever seen one before?" Sylvia asked the Doctor and Donna…

Unable to help the grin form on his lips, the Doctor felt a static build in his chest at the possibility of something new and unknown as he looked into the sparkling eyes of his companion…

"No…" he admitted, "I've never seen anything like this before…"

And that was the way he liked all his adventures to begin.


End file.
